Maryland ICU workers urge caution as states begin to reopen

FORT WASHINGTON, Md. (AP) — Respiratory therapist Kevin Cole and his colleagues at a Maryland intensive care center have watched COVID-19 patients die and consoled their families. They’ve celebrated as some patients recovered enough to leave. But as soon as beds become available, they begin to fill up again.

So even as the state takes the first step toward reopening, they’re not ready to let down their guard -- and they say the public shouldn’t be either.

“I’m pumping my brakes,” said Cole, who works at the Fort Washington Medical Center ICU in Prince Georges County, which rescinded its stay-at-home order and started reopening June 1.

“I think it’s still too early,” he said. “It wouldn’t bother me not to be able to go and sit down in the restaurant for the rest of the year. It wouldn’t bother me at all. I wish more people would take this into consideration.”

President Donald Trump has been urging states to reopen after months of lockdown because of the pandemic and the resulting economic recession.

Although there’s been an overall drop in daily deaths nationwide, several states, including Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Texas, have reported surges in cases after taking steps to reopen.

Overall, Prince Georges County has had about 650 COVID-19 deaths and leads the state of Maryland with more than 17,600 confirmed cases of the virus, according to statistics from Johns Hopkins University.

"So if I had the ability, the ability to go out ... I would opt not to only because I, I feel like we’re still in the thick of it all,” said Jonae Cussaac, a registered nurse in the ICU at the Fort Washington Medical Center.

From a safe interior hallway, at the ICU, clinical staff monitor patients’ vital signs on computers and double-check their oxygen...